Modern Vintage Illustration by Martin Dawber

This new book has just been published by Batsford and I have been lucky enough to have two images in it. The book is full of beautiful illustrations with a write up on how the images created have been influenced by various art movements.
My copy has just arrived and I am really excited about reading all the wonderful illustrations.

Exhibition at Vernon Mill Stockport

I am opening my studio and joining in with the exhibition tonight. I decided to put "Bert" up outside my studio and hopefully he will entice (or possibly scare) a few people to look around.

The exhibition is linked to the unveiling of the Queen's portrait. BBC article

Bus Shelter

I suppose this does follow my discarded objects....
I passed this at 7.30 this morning and it made me smile I hope it is there tonight and people add to it. In fact I've got a couple of items I would like to add. It could become a piece of Public Art!

More Discarded Objects

No illustration work at the moment so its time for creative play.

Been back in the studio again today. Plaster of paris now dried and I've covered the whole thing in PVA. This is all experimental so I am trying not  to be too precious.

 This is another discarded object...I think its some sort of ventilation flue. I picked it up from a scrap yard but had to pay for it (the bird **** that it was covered in came free!)
This has now been covered with a layer of PVA so I'm ready to go with this object as soon as the ideas come to me.

I seem to have accumulated so much junk in my studio. The problem is I have difficulty in throwing things away just in case I might find a use for them in the future.

Discarded Objects

It doesn't look a very interesting object but I found it in a pile of rubbish which was ready for the tip in one of the studios in the mill I experiment in.
I haven't become a SKIP RAT yet but sometimes I wish I had the nerve to stop the car and grab objects from skips outside peoples houses.

I have spent today experimenting with this and hopefully if its dry tomorrow I will take another photo.

Toilet Rolls

I found these images on a blog, so I looked up the artist Junior Fritz Jacquet What a wonderful use of toilet roll inners... I just use mine for Christmas crackers!

Good Cause

I have just finished this poster for my niece Clare, she has arranged this evening in memory of her mum Carol (my sister) I hope it catches peoples attention and they buy tickets!

Dream

Friday was a lovely day to head for the coast (Southport) and what did I see from the M62 the Jaume Plensa sculpture Dream.

"When we dream anything is possible" Jaume Plensa

We had a lovely walk up to the top of the site where she sits majestically sits surveying the countryside below.

For more information about Dream http://www.dreamsthelens.com

Difficult subject

Female Genital Mutilation

Usually my commissions are light hearted and I can add an element of fun to the illustration but this commission from the Royal College of Nursing for the Nursing Standard was an extremely difficult subject. The article about FMG was very informative and highlighted the problem authorities have in trying to stop this illegal practice. The article mentioned that young school girls were taken on holiday to have FMG performed abroad (this is also an illegal practice.) I was unaware of how big this problem was in Britain.

Random Project

I submitted this image for the Random Project The information is on the website but you email the number you want from 1 to 100 and they will send you a word. You then produce a post card image. My word was STAGE and I decided the world was a stage.

Casapueblo

It may seem as though my holiday was all to do with art but I was just lucky enough to be going to places that had some really interesting work to look at.

Casapueblo is a museum studio of the artist Carlos Paez Vilaro. This is the Carlos with his

friend Picasso in 1957.

This is the Casapueblo museum and studio that Carlos built by hand with the help of local fishermen. It sits on the cliff side at Punta Ballena in Uruguay.

These are the most recent paintings by Carlos. He is now 89 and still paints at Casapueblo, he was actually there when we went but unfortunately we did not see him.

La Boca

This colourful street in Buenos Aires was in the La Boca area. I had read about this area and really wanted to visit it. There was a lovely atmosphere with street artist showing off their tango skills, outdoor restaurants with live music and tourist type shops. La Boca is also known as the artist area and there was some really interesting work to be seen. We liked quite a lot of the work and decided to buy one of the limited dry point prints shown below.